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Midwest Victorian Studies Association 2014
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
April 11-13, 2014
Deadline: October 31, 2013
Seminar Leader: Professor Lisa Surridge, Department of
English, University of Victoria
"Sensational Violence: 'The Mysteries Which Are at Our Own
Doors'"
In his review of sensation fiction in The Nation (1865),
Henry James wrote that, “to Mr. Collins belongs the credit of having
introduced into fiction those mysterious of mysteries, the mysteries which
are at our own doors.” James’s remark captures the sensation novel’s capacity
to surveil, strip, and probe domestic spaces, lives, and even bodies.
This seminar will welcome scholars interested in the
capacity of the sensation novel and/or the sensational press to scrutinize
violence in what Victorians strove to construct as the “private” sphere—that
is, to expose spousal violence, sexual violence, violence against children, and
related domestic crimes. The seminar leaders also invite papers that consider
how such texts constructed privacy even as they exploded the very notion of a
private sphere free of public surveillance.
Participants will write 5-7 page papers that will be
pre-circulated to the other participants prior to the conference. During
our two-hour conversation, the seminar leader and participants will identify
important points of intersection and divergence among the papers and identify
future areas of inquiry and collaboration. The seminar format allows a
larger number of scholars to participate in MVSA and to seek financial support
from their respective institutions to attend the conference and discuss a
shared area of scholarly interest. Seminars are limited to 10
participants.
Send a 300-word abstract and 1-page CV (both as Word documents) by October 31, 2013 to Lisa Surridge: lsurridg@uvic.ca
The Midwest Victorian Studies Association is an interdisciplinary organization welcoming scholars from all disciplines who share an interest in nineteenth-century British history, literature, and culture. For more on the 2014 MVSA conference: http://www.midwestvictorian.org/p/conference.html
